{ACL with HomeAway}

Posted on October 11, 2016

Up until about a year ago, I was not the typical Homeaway customer. Any vacation or trip I took, I would always book a hotel and not think twice about it. It was always an easy and comfortable decision. That was until Grayson and I planned a trip to St. Thomas. We quickly found out the only way to make the trip affordable was to look at other alternatives for room and board on our vacation.

After a few hours of pestering from Grayson, we started looking at some rentals on Homeaway.com. We immediately found a few options that were significantly less expensive and with more accommodations than most the hotels on the island. I was still skeptical about it all, but we booked our place. It was definitely a decision I DO NOT REGRET!!

We had a quaint little condo over looking the ocean with the beach just a short walk away. We knew the view would be amazing because we saw the exact view in pictures Homeaway, not something that’s guaranteed from a hotel. Instead of eating out for every meal, we had the opportunity to spend some quality time together cooking! The whole process was easy and painless and it’s now a goto site any time I’m planning to travel.

So when Homeaway (based in Austin) reached out to me about a partnership for ACL it was a no brainer. I said “yes” before I even knew what I was getting myself into! By the way, what I said yes to was an invite to their private concert with HAIM on their rooftop patio overlooking the Austin skyline…. oh and two ACL passes with backstage access on the HomeAway stage!

We showed up to the party Thursday evening right as the sun was setting. 5 stories up and overlooking the lake and green city of Austin, it would set the tone for my whole ACL-Homeaway experience. I hate being late so of course I was one of the first party goers to show up and boy I’m glad I did! They had 4 awesome flavors of popcorn setup and unless you’ve been living under a rock, you ladies know how much I love popcorn! They also had yummy fruit flavored wine coolers to wash down my delicious snack. While the sun started to set, me and Grayson found some lawn chairs and waited for HAIM to show up and perform. How good was the show? So good I forgot to take pictures and spent my time dancing around like a white girl! What a way to set the tone for the rest of the weekend!!

For Friday, there was 3 bands I HAD to see – Cold War Kids, Die Antwoord (Ok, Grayson wanted to see them), and Band of Horses. After the shenanigans I got into the night before, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do a whole day under the sun. The VIP bands were a life saver and if you’ve never experienced it before at ACL, it’s definitely should be on your bucket list.

Saturday’s lineup didn’t have any bands I needed to see, besides The Chainsmokers! Thankfully, they were set to play on the Homeaway stage so we staked out right up front, ready to dance the night away!

These passes would end up being a lifesaver on Sunday. 3 days straight of fun was taking it’s toll on me but I had to soldier on as this was the last AND best day of ACL. The initial plan was to see Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Miike Snow, and last but definitely not least LCD Soundsystem!! With a little bit of luck, maybe we could see a bit of Mumford & Sons and escape before the horde of ACL zombies left Zilker Park for good that night.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and I’m so thankful I had this opportunity to partner with Homeaway. I gotta say, it’s pretty cool we have such an amazing company here in Austin and it’s awesome they’ve seen the hard work I’ve put in to my business and felt like spoiling me. It’s an adventure I won’t soon forget!! Thanks Homeaway!!

Now, let’s talk fashion! I always love attempting to dress up in my best festival fashion and this year was no exception. Austin always has some interesting weather this time of year so it’s crucial to pick the right look for an all day, all weekend festival. If you checked out my ACL Survival Guide post, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The two looks below are two of my favorites I’ve thrown on in a while!!

Look #1 – I actually wore this on the last day and couldn’t have been comfier. We got to the festival a little later that day so the weather had already begun to warm up, so I opted for a OTS top with cutoff shorts and gladiator sandals. (I would link all of this but the majority is sold out!!)

Look #2 – By far my FAVORITE! This maxi dress literally sold out in a matter of days so I’m glad I had snatched it up for the festival. More importantly, let’s chat about this amazing little bag, called a balsa. I recently styled Kim Lewis for a magazine cover and she gifted me one of these gorgeous bags to use while at ACL. The bolsas are handmade by single moms in Catacamas, Honduras through a nonprofit. Kim pays the moms a day wage per bolsa they made. One balsa = one day work. Many of the women are rising out of poverty and prostitution, as they thought that was the only way to take care of their children. Kim is such an amazing woman and is ALL about reminding women of their Value in this world by spreading the message “You are worth Gold.”

There are 4 different slots in the design that allow you to Wear the bolsa 5 ways; Fanny pack, Crossbody, Boot satchel, Passport holder, “Gladiator” style around the thigh. (I’ll try and get a blog post up about how to wear them!)

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35 Comments

You look amazing, how fun were your VIP passes?! I’m so jealous you got so close to The Chainsmokers, we (I) wanted to see Cage the Elephant beforehand. We were pretty close, but off to the side, plus I’m short so that didn’t help. I wish we could have met up, but it was so insane! I’m glady you had fun, though!

You lookk amazing, Ashley! I absolutely love the top from your first look. It looks like an OTS top that would actually stay in place! haha!. I will definitely have to keep Homeaway in mind for our next trip. Our 4th wedding anniversary is coming up soon. Would be the perfect occasion!